Albert Mann | Alsace | Riesling L’Épicentre, Schlossberg | 2010 | 375ml

Description

Product description for Albert Mann Riesling L’Épicentre, Schlossberg 2010

Christina Hilker: The 2009 Riesling Schlossberg “L’Epicentre” reflects the same complexity and minerality of the dry Rieslings from Schlossberg. Lime, citrus notes, and apricots mingle with a salty note and a stony minerality. All of this is accompanied by notes reminiscent of ripe pineapple, elderflower syrup, and blossom honey. The delicate sweetness of the 2009 Riesling Schlossberg “L’Epicentre” is accompanied by a stimulating acidity and a salty minerality. A dancing, light-footed sweet wine of the highest class!

Colour/Appearance

Bright, sparkling golden yellow, thickening towards the rim.

Nose

The 2010 Riesling Schlossberg L’Épicentre presents itself with pronounced minerality and complexity on the nose. Sweet citrus aromas combine with fresh mint and ginger and exotic hints of pineapple and mango. Floral notes of elderberry and acacia blossom skillfully round out the stimulating aroma spectrum.

Palate

The 2010 Riesling L’Épicentre is pure finesse, captivating with its intense sweetness combined with vibrant acidity. The salty minerality and long finish testify to a true elixir!

Schlossberg Grand Cru

The Schlossberg lies north of Kaysersberg on a large granite rock in the Vosges bedrock. It is one of the most famous locations in Alsace, and its history is documented back to the late Middle Ages. The vineyard is steep and has a pure southerly exposure. It extends over an altitude of 230 to 400 meters. The soils are siliceous, sandy, and rich in minerals. This unique location, combined with the soil characteristics, produces fruity and floral wines with their own character and a special finesse. Albert Mann cultivates exclusively Riesling here, which is characterized by its fruitiness, length, and harmony, and pairs perfectly with seafood.

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Keywords: Albert Mann Riesling L’Épicentre, Schlossberg 2010 Alsace France

Wine Advocate

Score: 95

The Mann 2010 Riesling Schlossberg L’Epicentre was picked October 27, so only around a week later than the corresponding 2011, and it finished with virtually the same alcohol (8.5 grams) and residual sugar (160 grams) – but (at 12.8 grams) with nearly twice the 2011’s acidity! Any exaggeration here, however, is confined to the wine’s analysis, as its performance is rarified and proportional to an almost astonishing degree. A penetrating nose of honeysuckle, candied lemon rind and horseradish leads to a palate of utmost delicacy and with invigoratingly bright fresh lime and orange juiciness. Like a lime meringue studded with crystallized ginger and glazed with quince jelly, this lusciously long-lingering elixir at once cools, refreshes, stimulates and soothes the palate. (For more background on this bottling, consult my coverage of the 2007 in issue 188.) Plan to follow it into mid-century (or to leave bottles for someone who can). _x000D_
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The Barthelmes were out picking Riesling already very soon after mid-September of 2011, and as Jacky Barthelme relates and the bottled results testify, “the skins were already ripe by then. And we picked one lot at only 12% potential alcohol. The vines were under no stress this year so their ripening cycle was finished early.” He adds that the vines weren’t hedged during the summer, an approach that is gaining support among growers internationally, not to mention support from the results I have tasted. Light pressing in small lots and minimal settling were parts of the crush regimen that may have helped in achieving some of the most refined, elegant, texturally alluring Rieslings I witnessed from this vintage. In some instances, the Mann 2010s were harvested at higher must weights than their 2011s, a function at least in part of low yields coupled with the need to let the fruit hang to moderate acidity and achieve ripe flavors. Despite the usual profusion of nobly sweet bottlings at this address, there happened to be only a single wine from either vintage that the Barthelmes chose to declare as V.T._x000D_
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Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800
David Schildknecht

Vinous

Score: 92-95

Dark yellow-gold. Peach nectar, blonde tobacco, rose water and crystallized ginger aromas are complicated by a note of gunflint. Very sweet but racy on the palate, with a laser beam of acidity giving the ripe tropical fruit and mineral flavors terrific clarity and cut. Offers noteworthy class and exceptional sugar/acid balance; somehow its 12.8 grams per liter of acidity don’t seem like too much. Mercifully less passerillé than the 2011, with greater presence of lemony botrytis adding complexity and depth. From grapes picked on October 27; some of the berries were frozen, ice wine style.
— Ian D’Agata
Drinking window:
Review date: Nov 2012

Producer website: https://www.albertmann.com/